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Smoke and mirrors, you see, stand for deception, something that blurs or distorts facts.
When the website is given a “long leash”, it means they have a lot of freedom to publish what they want.
If people call someone a Pinocchio, they believe this person is very prone to telling a lie.
A road map here is a metaphor. What they have is not a map of roads, but a clear and detailed business plan .
If you do something that is described as in bad taste, you do something that is unpleasant, displeasing, discomforting.
They shake hands with him in public, saying “Glad to meet you” and so forth but the next moment they’re cursing him with closed teeth.
If we say something is in the cards, we mean to say that they’re likely to happen.
When people say someone is sailing too close to the wind, they are saying that this person is doing something exceedingly risky or improper.
A plan on shifting sand won’t work because it doesn’t have a solid foundation.
That means a safety net that prevents one from total failure and doom in society at large. Put another way, it helps one survive socially when the going gets tough.
Metaphorically speaking, karma simply means that good deeds bring good while bad begets bad.
A stumbling block is any hindrance that prevents you from reaching your goal, any goal.
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